Page:Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp.djvu/238

194 forthright and went to meet the Sultan, who said to him, when he saw him, “Wherefore, O my son, hast thou done thus, and why sufferedst thou not the jewellers complete the lattice-work of the oriel, so there might not remain a place in thy palace defective?” “O King of the Age,” answered Alaeddin, “I left it not imperfect but of my free will, nor did I lack of ableness to complete it. However, I could not brook that Thy Grace should honour me [with thy presence] in a palace wherein there was somewhat lacking; wherefore, so thou mayst know that it was not for lack of ableness that I left it uncomplete, let Thy Grace go up and see the lattice-work of the kiosk, an there be aught lacking thereto.”

The Sultan accordingly went up to the pavilion and entering the kiosk, viewed it right and left and